Comcast reports third quarter profits

Cable giant Comcast Corp., the nation's largest provider of TV and
high-speed Internet services, more than doubled its net income in the
third quarter, helped by fewer cancelations of video service than
expected and by breaking even on the expensive-to-produce London
Olympics on NBC.

Net income rose to $2.11 billion, or 78 cents per
share, in the three months through September from $908 million, or 33
cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding earnings from
businesses in which it had a minority stake, adjusted earnings came to
46 cents per share, matching the expectation of analysts polled by
FactSet.

The adjustment factored out a $319 million gain from the
sale of its minority stake in A&E Television Networks, which owns
pay TV channels such as A&E, History and Lifetime.

The
Philadelphia-based company lost 117,000 video subscribers in the
quarter, leaving it with about 22 million. Video subscriber losses have
slowed for eight quarters in a row, which the company said was due to
better customer service and fewer in-person service calls. Analysts were
looking for an average decline of 123,000.

Comcast is mainly
losing subscribers to telecom and satellite TV providers. Verizon and
AT&T already reported gains in the quarter of around 317,000
combined.

More
video customers signed up for all three services and the revenue it
made from every video customer grew 9 percent to $150.73 a month.

An
increasing number of customers added advanced products such as
high-definition digital video recorders, which helped boost revenue per
video customer, even though some analysts were expecting a decline.

The
good news on the Olympics wasn't a surprise after NBCUniversal CEO
Steve Burke said on Aug. 1 that the Games would likely break even rather
than cause a $200 million loss, as was predicted earlier. The company
decided to telecast events live on its website but wait several hours
before airing them again in prime time in the U.S. The move ended up
helping audience ratings, not hurting them, as the buzz on social media
helped drive viewers to their living rooms.

Comcast said it took
in $1.19 billion in revenue for the Olympics alone during the quarter,
topping the $1.18 billion it paid for the rights. The company also spent
production dollars on camera crews, announcers and the like.